


Steadfast Heartbeat

by flowersforlukey



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Boys Kissing, Denial of Feelings, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Maylor Friendship, Michael goes to Taylor to erase his heartbreak, Romace, but deep inside they're in love, then they hate each other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-06-08 08:35:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6847360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowersforlukey/pseuds/flowersforlukey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Maybe I love you? I think this is the realest definition when I say I love you as a friend, Luke."</p><p>They're right there, two 'bestest' friends in a band who both seem like there's something more to their friendship. It's a different feeling than the kind of love they feel for both Calum and Ashton, because they know they're in a world where they want nothing more, they just want each other.</p><p>It's going to be hard with the fame and the band, they're both very aware of that. From those stolen glances onstage to long gazes into each other's eyes during interviews, from those sneaky hints of jealousy to finally hidden kisses in a twitcam, there's no denial that they're pretty much feeling something towards each other.</p><p>They're in love, they're just afraid and very much terrified to admit that even to themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I'm back with a chaptered fic for ya'll! This is nearly done with 36 parts, but I'll publish one by one to see if this hits off. 
> 
> Enjoy babes! :)

* * *

"In year nine, we each other," I spoke into the camera as the bright camera lights shone towards my direction. "He wanted kill to me, I wanted to kill him."

_Years in my life became extraordinary and unexpected as a blonde guy with gorgeous blue eyes walked into that High school gate entrance._

"We actually hated each other for a solid year of my life." I looked directly at Michael who sat behind the cameras and the light posts. I couldn't picture the look of insecurity on his face as he sat straight and continued to watch my interview.

_Naming us a band, we couldn't help ourselves as we get drawn closer to each other day by day._

_And as every day passes by, a tether started pulling us closer until finally, we got connected in a different way._

_And when we meant by a different way, we weren't at all ashamed of ourselves._

"Luke," the Entertainment Tonight interviewer called my name and I snapped back from all of my thoughts. "Who's your celebrity crush right now?" he asks and I threatened to cast a stare at Michael who nonchalantly stood beside Calum.

Without another word and thought in my mind, the words came out of my mouth without any hesitation.

"Michael Clifford."

And with no hesitance at all, Michael, along with the rest of the band started laughing and giggling.

_When we're all alone, just the two of us, strange things start to happen._

"Luke, what are you doing?" he slurred as he attempted to grab another shot of the vodka we were drinking.

I fidgeted the camera on my hands as I carefully removed his grasp on the glass. "I'm recording you."

"Lukeeee."

The very drunk Michael Clifford was easy to manipulate.

_Touching your hair was irresistible, wrapping my arms around you was so heart-melting, Michael._

_Watching you nibble your lip ring makes me want to squirm, and watching the corners of your mouth lift into a smile makes me feel strange, Luke._

_I can't stand a day without inching closer to you, Michael. I need to be with you._

@Luke5SOS: I miss you :( @Michael5SOS

_I wasn't thinking. I refused to  think. It made me forget how everything came out of my mouth like trash, it made me forget all of those stupid insecurities._

"You smell so nice, Ashton." I glance behind my phone in front of my face and looked to where Ashton and Calum were recording.

"Thanks man." Ashton chuckles and got back to recording.

I notice Michael stand beside the bed, glancing towards my direction.

"Luke, why do you smell like shit?" he deadpanned and my ears shot in fake furry.

I got up from the bed and pushed him way off track. "What the fuck is going on with you?" 

He crosses his arms across his chest.

"What the heck are you doing?" he bellowed harshly, though could I hear the playfulness in his voice.

_It made me forget my world, it made me forget everyone's lame old story lines. 'Cause every time I see you, Michael, I feel different. When I catch you smiling at me, the world starts spinning faster and faster until I get dizzy under your spell, falling for you so hard._

_'Cause this is a lovesick game, Michael. And I'll be having fun if you play it with me._

"What makes you think that you could go and fool around, telling me I freaking smell like shit?" I pushed his chest again and he takes a step backwards.

He smiles at me, showing me a full view of his perfect teeth, and I did nothing to stop the relieved laugh coming out of my mouth.

"Because I feel so lucky to tease an amazing person like my Lucas." he whispers rather loudly and triggers a hopeful eye contact with me.

That, however, was the most nerve-wracking eye contact I had in my entire life. Would someone ask me why?

_Because it was Michael Clifford eyeing me with that look on his face that I couldn't read._

"Muke! Muke! Muke!" fans start screaming as Michael and I walk onto the stage.

I stare at Michael as he stares blankly at the crowd, astonishment hiding behind his features.

Without thinking, I walk over to where Michael was standing and leaned closer to his ear, my electric guitar falling onto place on my side.

"People ship us, Michael." I simply whispered into his ear as he turns his head and stares at me. Our eyes meet, causing me to suck in a large breath.

Fans started screaming louder.

"So this is how it works then," Michael whispers back and smiles at me, pulling out from his gaze before the fans started screaming again for a very long time.

_But how come we just can't admit it, Michael?_

_How come we just can't be together?_

_We're both straight as hell, but how come I feel this way for you?_

"Who smells the best in the band?" the interviewer asked us.

"I think it is you, Calum." I heard Luke speak from the back.

"Yeah, but you pick Calum for everything," I snapped harshly at him, and everyone falls into silence, his eyes meeting mine once with the apology masking his gaze.

_I lost the track of my thoughts when I came to you one night and told you everything I needed to tell you._

"Maybe I love you?" I told him, and he stared at me nervously. "I think this is the realest definition when I say I love you as a friend, Luke."

And he didn't answer at all.

He never did.

_You turned my world upside down, crushed me under your insecurities that I hated, Luke. Your voice brings death to my ears, your nonchalant heartbeat breaking mine into a thousand pieces. Your presence drunks me into irritation whilst your eyes burn mine into deathly flames._

_Your pleads and apologies fall into deaf ears as your screams send bloodshot shivers to my spine, Luke._

"You make me feel so stupid and so dumb, Luke!" I yell at him as I grabbed a glass from his nightstand and threw it towards the wall with enough force, falling to the ground, shattering into broken pieces.

"I don't need you, Luke!" I yell at him again. This time, I felt the stinging tears coming. I quickly wiped the tears away with my sleeves as I grabbed another glass from his nightstand and threw it towards the wall, watching it shatter into a thousand broken pieces. "I won't ever need you!"

The glasses I threw were glasses Luke and I used to drink on while we got drunk inside his room. And now I just couldn't stop sobbing.

_You said what I needed to hear. You said you loved me, but I didn't want to hear it sooner, Michael. You told me I crushed your world. You told me I killed your soul._

_You told me I was fucking_ _selfish, and it hurt but I refused to care. When in fact, I was the one at fault, and you were victimized by an asshole who happens to be me, Michael._

_I hurt you a lot. I fucking hurt you, Michael. I ruined you, and broke you into pieces demanded by none other than me. I know I hurt you, and hurting you made me realize that I just hurt myself too._

_I can't believe I did this to you, Michael. You were so perfect. So cautious and innocent that I thought you were keeping yourself close to me. But you were so delicate and so fragile, why the hell didn't I remember?_

_I know I've sworn to torture every damn prick who would fool around and try to hurt you. But I now know that I am to torture and hurt myself, Michael. I ended up being the one who hurt you. I didn't try. I just hurt you, and every torture I did to you would be bouncing back to me._

_But then I saw you crying, Michael. You know I never wanted to see you cry. Watching you break down and cry because of me, kills me a thousand times worse than I killed myself._

_I wanted to hold you. Soothe you, and bring you into my arms. But I realized I made you different. I made you avoid me for a long time and know I'm scared to death to even touch your hair._

_Why did I do this to you, Michael, for fuck's sake? If only I knew what was going to happen next, I would've been a lot more careful to what I was about to say._

_Truth is, I already knew everything. Yet, I couldn't hold onto myself, couldn't trust myself to keep you in my arms._

_And this is what I get, Michael._

"Oh, this murderous battle has just begun, Luke. From this day, I'm about to become your hell for the rest of your unstable and undeserving life."

_Can you just torture me instead? I'd rather get stabbed by you every single day than let you forget who I was._

_Kill me instead, Michael._

_Just don't ever forget me._

_'Cause deep inside, I'll love you for the rest of my life._

I love you for eternity, Michael.

•••

A few weeks later...

 _I need to hurt you._ _I need to make you feel the pain you gave me._ _I need to stay away from you... but I just can't._

_Because she came in my life, and everything started to change._

@taylorswift13: @Michael5SOS If I'm hearing you correctly, what you're saying is, you'd like to be twitter BFF's. I accept your implied request.

@Michael5SOS: @taylorswift13 Alright, fine. I'm in.

 _Those nights I ignored you completely, were the nights when I talked to her all night long. Those messages you sent me that I left unseen, were the messages I deleted and got replaced by her sappy texts. When interviewers ask me about you, I always remember her and talk about her instead_.

"So is it true that you're Twitter best friends with Taylor Swift?"

"Uh, yes," I nodded to the camera and the interviewer smiled sweetly at me. "I don't know how it happened. It just happened so yeah. We're twitter best friends."

_My poor heart that you've broken, was fixed by her. You tore me down, but she did everything to put myself together. She gave me kisses that lingered longer than yours do._

Nick Jonas and Olivia Culpo left the apartment. Calum and Luke left about two hours ago.

I looked around and the coast was clear.

I wrapped my arms around her waist as I pulled her closer to my body. "Happy birthday, Taylor. I really hope you had a great time tonight."

Her eyes seemed like sparkling, and her lips were so red and so plump. The touch of her fingers felt like heaven, slowly and carefully caressing my skin. Her arms continued to snake around my neck and slowly, she pulled me closer to her. "I had the best."

After a momentary silence, she started inching closer until I had nothing to do but fall for her, and I eventually got caught up in a soft peck.

I kissed her.

All night long, I've been wanting to kiss her.

_Everything you couldn't do, was done by her. And it pleased me day by day, making me fall harder for her._

"Michael, I love you."

Finally hearing those words from her suddenly felt better.

 _Would you ask me if I'm only using her to forget you?_ _Would you ask me how it feels to date her?_

_Would you ask me how it feels to actually love her?_

'Cause you're wrong, Luke. I may not be dating her, but I'm sure as hell not scared of her. Because that's how I love her. That's what I feel for Taylor.

_But then I remembered how you made me feel. I remembered why I loved you. I remembered why I fought for you until I gave up. I remembered why I couldn't stop watching you sleep beside me. I remembered why I couldn't get enough of the cuddles we had._

_I remembered you as the best friend I couldn't imagine of losing. I remembered you as someone who's always been there for me no matter what._

_I remember loving you, and it hurt me every single day that you didn't love me back._

But I also love her. What am I supposed to do to you, Luke?

Nothing.

_Why did we have to end up like this, Luke?_

I couldn't help but to let out that loud sound that I'm hearing. Can't you hear that, Luke and Taylor? Just listen to it pounding.

_Bec_ _ause it's my steadfast heartbeat._

* * *

 


	2. Yes or No Paddles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically some of the interviews that happened irl. Just to clear up the plot, y'know.

* * *

**Luke**

I subtly watch Michael pace back and forth in front of the mirror, his hands ruffling his undoubtedly fresh hair for the past five minutes. I was sitting at the edge of his bed, waiting for him to finish pacing as I stared at his open bedroom door.

When I noticed him walk over to his night stand to grab his phone, I stood up from the bed and met him halfway to the door. I stared at him as he took one more glimpse of his perfectly fine appearance in the mirror before heading back to me.

"Um, are you ready to go?" I asked him and he nodded right away. I flash a smile before looking straight ahead to find Calum and Ashton waiting for us at the front door.

"What took you guys so long?" Calum groaned in front of us and I only shrug, stealing a glance from Michael.

"It's not my fault we had to wake up at seven in the morning when I was too perked up on talking with this pal last night," Michael spoke up and pointed to me, earning a slight chuckle from me when he mentioned something about us from last night.

I look down at my feet. "It's partly my fault, anyway." I shrug and watch as Ashton opened the front door, gesturing for us to come outside. "The other half was Michael's fault." I whispered as I allowed Michael to trail behind me along the hallways.

The elevator doors open and we immediately stepped inside, thankful that it was completely empty. Once inside, Ashton presses the ground floor button as the elevator slowly descended. I took around my surroundings as I stared at Michael from the elevator's mirrored wall. He looked extremely good in his black leather jacket that went over his Green Day shirt, and those long black skinny jeans that had me squirming.

His red hair, oh god, his hair. His red hair contrasted everything to his all-dark outfit. Gratefully, it didn't stick out into different angles, which is why I'm glad he took most of his time pacing in front of his mirror just to make his hair look good. I couldn't help myself but eye him up and down, starting from where his black boots were seen, until my eyes landed on his face, a smirk present on his lips as he noticed me very well, knowing that I was indeed staring at him.

Heck, I got caught this time.

I felt a finger lightly tap on my shoulder. I looked behind me to meet his chartreuse eyes.

"Hi." he said casually, but in his voice, I could hear him holding back a chuckle.

"Uh, hey..." I muttered rather awkwardly. I stare down at my feet, fidgeting slightly. This is inhumanely embarrassing.

"I can see you staring at me through the mirror, you know?" he asked as if he wanted me to agree with his point. He chuckled horridly when I showed the slight tinge of an embarrassed smile. "Nice try, though," he started to pat me on my back and came back chuckling.

This time, I didn't stare, at Michael if I would point out. Instead, I was staring at Ashton. I don't know why, but I was actually staring at Ashton and he only gives me a disgusted look. Dammit, what's wrong with me?

After what felt like forever, which was only 15 seconds, they elevator doors open and I made my way outside as fast as I could. There was too much awkwardness inside that elevator and I could tell it by Michael's smug grin.

"Guys, the Uber just texted me and said that he couldn't park in front of the hotel." Ashton called out to us and we all turned our faces to look at him. He was squinting at his phone and we were all huddled in a circle.

"Why not?" I sigh in exhaust and started walking again, going towards the main entrance of the hotel. I wanted to tell Ashton to ask the Uber why he can't park in front of the hotel, but I was immediately hit by the loud screaming of girls waiting outside.

"Oh." was all I could say before Michael stood beside me. The crowd started screaming louder when they saw us. And at the corner of my eye, I saw a teenage girl outside holding up a poster with the words "I love Muke!" scribbled in glittery paper.

Oh great.

Calum and Ashton immediately caught up behind us and we were all escorted by the security guards on our way outside the hotel. Once the doors were open, a vacant path was made for us and we took our advantage to escape from the screaming fans.

"The Uber says we have to cross the road to meet him!" Ashton yells from behind as we know our voices would only be muffled ones in contrast with the screams of he fans.

Michael nudges me as I stare ahead of the pedestrian road. I look at him and I saw his right hand reaching out to me, asking to hold his hand.

"Are you sure?" I yelled at him, well not literally yelled. I just raised my voice so he can hear me over the loud screaming.

"What are you? Five? Of course you can." he yells back before I finally gave in and allowed him to grasp my left hand.

He stares at me, and smiled when he saw I was already I holding his hand.

He kept our intertwined hands closer to him which caused me to walk closer to his figure. The fans screamed louder when they saw us, but Michael and I ignored them, savoring the whole moment as we looked from left to right before crossing the road.

We crossed the road slowly and when we got to the other side, we saw the Uber parked in a corner whilst Calum and Ashton are still crossing the road. I glance down at our intertwined hands and smiled, looking up afterwards to see that Michael was staring at me.

"Did you see the girl with the poster?" He asked me and I quickly nodded, being glad to know that he saw the poster too.

"I did." I answered before searching for the girl at the other side of the road, hoping to catch a glimpse of her and thankfully, I finally saw her. "And she's looking right over us, right now." I tell Michael before his eyes landed on the same girl I was staring at.

Michael stared at her and smiled, earning a loud wave of screams from the fans who he wasn't even staring at. The girl was maybe five feet tall, blessed with those good looks along with her brown hair that fell to the length of her middle.

When she was guaranteed that she was the girl Michael was staring at, she immediately perked up and flashed us the poster again, making me smile as well.

Michael and I waved at her, and the girl immediately got the attention of the other girls that were surrounding her. She smiles sheepishly at all of them, before turning her gaze towards us again, smiling and waving the whole time.

"She's a nice girl." Michael states truthfully.

"I know." I agree with his thoughts. She really is a nice girl.

Michael and I gave her one last wave before turning to the approaching Cashton, with Calum looking whipped as ever.

"What's wrong with you?" I ask him in concern as we ran to the corner towards the Uber, away from the fans' sights.

He groans and sticks up a finger into each of his ears. "I think I might be deaf." he tells me before I opened the door to the passenger's seat and letting him sit inside since he could open it by himself.

Ashton opens the other door and steps inside, followed by Michael who now had released his grasp onto my hand. I came inside last and sat beside him, closing the door to my side as Uber started driving us to a place.

"Aw, that's sad, Cal." Michael leans into the center console between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat. He playfully pats Calum on his back. "I'm sure you'll still love the fans."

"So, Ashton," I drawled out slowly, making Ashton turn to me with his full attention. "What's our first interview?" I asked curiously and he took out his phone, reading something quick before turning to me again.

"It says here, we have Entertainment Tonight first, which goes on from 7am to maybe 8am." he stares blankly at his phone again and continued to ramble on. "Don't ask me why. I honestly have no idea why we're doing ET in the morning." he shrugs nonchalantly.

The ride goes on in silence, before the car practically halted in front of one of the many buildings in Los Angeles.

•••

Michael, Calum, Ashton, and I stood next to each other as we watched the woman in her mid twenties move around and direct us on what we were supposed to do. The next thing she did was stand behind a camera and looked at the four of us.

"And this is where you will be—" the woman was cut off by a loud shriek coming from one of the dressing rooms. She was utterly annoyed by the same teenager that was calling her name again and again, but what could I say? I couldn't care less.

"Excuse me, for a moment. I just have some nasty business to take care of." She casually says, adjusting the lenses of her glasses before she excused herself and walked away towards the dreaded dressing room.

We all looked around us and we found ourselves in the midst of skepticism. There were busy people scrambling everywhere, stacks of papers in their hand flying around as they eagerly ran around to their errands.

Some were doing some of the camera work and some were adjusting the lights that hovered above us. Another guy was holding a folder in his hands, his eyes skimming the words thoroughly.

We were barely acknowledged inside here, and it couldn't get even more uncomfortable. We were only standing, doing nothing as we waited for the woman to cone back. It was indeed tiring to say at least.

"Do they even have chairs around here?" Calum asks as he turns around, searching for a vacant seat which he was unable to do so. He only comes back to staring at the dressing room as we all waited impatiently. "I swear, I can't feel my legs anymore." Calum complained and I couldn't help but nod.

"Me neither." now it was Ashton complaining this time. Michael and I still stood in silence.

After another minute, the woman finally came out, but this time, the canera crew came with her along with the guy that was reading the folder a while ago. She wasted no time as she gave us the last instruction we all needed to know.

"As I was saying, this is where you're supposed to look during the first scene," she tells us carefully, pointing out the camera in front of her. We all nod in understanding and she quickly tells some other directions to the guy with the folder.

A man sits behind the camera, signaling us to be prepared for the first scene. The woman's turns her attention to us again and shows us the folder the guy was holding. "Boys, you will be reading these out loud while you look into the camera. But after that, only one of you will read the next few lines written there."

We read the words with our eyes and all of us chose Calum to read the other lines. We all agree that we were ready to be filmed since we didn't have much time left.

The camera man counts off to three before he started filming

"Hi we're 5 Seconds Of Summer!" we all spoke into the camera with our spotlight smiles plastered onto our faces. Calum immediately perked up and read along the next lines. "Right here on ET."

"Cut!" another face pops out as it stopped us from saying anything.

The woman turns to us, saying that we all did great. She also introduced us to the guy holding the folder, saying that he will be our interviewer today. We all paid attention to the woman and the interviewer until we were already being filmed again.

"Who spends the most time inside the bathroom?" he asked us straightforward.

"Probably Luke." Ashton answered.

"Who spends the most time in the gym?"

"Ashton." Calum answered almost immediately.

"Who spends the most time on the hair?" the interviewer asked and I smiled ridiculously.

"Luke." Calum and Ashton answered in unison.

"One of these guys," Ashton adds as he points a drumstick at both Michael and I.

I shake my head in disagreement. "I just think that it's me."

"Who spends the most time on the phone, especially on social media?"

"Calum." I answered in ease, and Calum was up to disagree.

"Oooh," Ashton chuckled.

"It's not..." Calum trails off, shaking his head. "It's not me... It's definitely Michael."

The interviewer asked us two other questions before proceeding to the next one. "Who's your celebrity crush?" he asks and I threatened to cast a stare at Michael who nonchalantly stood beside Calum.

I didn't know if I was ready to say it. I don't know how's he gonna react when I do it. Without another word and thought in my mind, the words came out of my mouth without any hesitation.

"Michael Clifford." I answered the interviewer's question.

And with no doubt at all, Michael, started laughing and giggling. I didn't mind, but I was afraid to think that maybe he thought I was only joking when he said he was my celebrity crush. I really hope he would understand how I feel.

Calum and Ashton didn't stare at me, which makes me feel guilty from what I said. I know the two guys too well, and I know they feel embarrassed every time Muke takes a chance in front of the camera

From what I heard, Calum answered Mariah Carrey. In the other hand, Ashton said something I didn't hear. I was slowly zoning out into my thoughts, and I feel like I could no longer participate in this interview anymore.

"Final question," the interviewer announced. Thank god we're almost done. "What's the time right now in Australia?"

"Uh," Ashton looked up and started thinking. "Four AM."

Unfortunately, Calum disagreed. "It would be..." he trailed off, letting himself drown into his thoughts for a second. "It would be six."

"Yeah," Ashton snapped his fingers in sudden realization. "Six AM."

The interviewer laughed and shook his head. "You got that question wrong. It's actually eight AM in Australia."

Calum and Ashton laughed at each each other and I couldn't help but stare at how Michael's face scrunches up when he joins the laughter as well. 

"You made us look like idiots!" Ashton whined as he laughed playfully.

Idiots indeed.

•••

We were now in a radio show called "Nova FM Smallzy's Surgery" with Kent 'Smallzy' Small standing in front of us. Unfortunately, Ashton couldn't join us which leaves me with Michael and Calum. 

We all had to continue the interviews, so we were sent here with headphones on our heads and 'yes or no' paddles were given to us.

"So, uh, last Wednesday, Abigail Breslin released her debut song 'You Suck'," Kent started and Michael immediately darted his eyes towards him. "I hope you're all aware that she _is_ Michael's ex-girlfriend, and I'm just thinking that this might be something you wouldn't want to talk about."

"No," Michael shakes his head. "I don't mind at all."

Kent only nodded and smiled at us warmly, not knowing if it was a good idea to bring up the topic of Abigail.

"Everybody's been saying that the diss track Abigail released was actually aimed at you," he says, looking away from us.

"Yeah, it's been like three days ever since we found out, and it's all that has been lurking around us." Calum agreed, staring at Kent.

"Uh, we actually listened to the track, and I don't know," I spoke as I shook my head. "The lyrics however are pretty convincing. I don't know, it's hard to think that everyone's just pondering on the lyrics until it's perceived to be Michael."

"Yeah, I know," Kent agrees with us just as he stares sympathetically at the three of us. "Actually, your fans have been defending you, Michael, to say the least. And it's not a surprise that Abigail's been receiving all the hate."

"I actually feel bad for her." Calum admitted and we all giggled at him having such a stupid thought.

"Michael, I have to ask," Kent spoke to Michael, knowing that his attention was already caught. "The internet went crazy yesterday, so is there anything you want to say?" Smallzy said, gesturing for Michael to let out everything.

Unfortunately, Michael shook his head.

"You don't have to say anything, I'm not going to push you on it." Kent said after the short silence. "But I do want to say, is there anything you want to say? Because the Veronicas said a lot."

Clearly surprised, Michael said, "Did they?" and perking up after Smallzy nodded he added, "What did they say?"

"The girls had been tweeting about the track," Kent informed him. "Their tweets went public on Thursday, as far as I remember, and it showed that Jessica Veronica tweeted the most."

Michael looks down at his feet and stares at the sight before him. "A lot of people are getting involved," he admitted.

Kent nodded and smiled at the slightest. "But that doesn't mean it's a bad thing," he assures him. "Actually, not only the Veronicas were tweeting about the diss track. Other celebrities are clearly taking your side. No need to fuss."

"I haven't spoken to her in a year," Michael said shortly and Kent went to check if he was talking about Abigail. Michael nodded slightly and added, "I just... I don't know."

Kent looked like he felt really bad for Michael. "So there were these lyrics I found in the song that were quite in resemblance to you, Michael."

The three of us nodded knowing that we all knew what these lyrics were.

"So I want you guys to play a game, just to show that Abigail's lyrics to her song are completely wrong." Kent told us and we all perked up to that.

"Since Michael is standing in the middle, both of _you_ ," Kent points towards Calum and I and continued, "Each of _you_ will be telling Michael the things you love about him." He grins at us and we all nod.

"Luke, you go first."

"What?" I was slightly taken aback by Kent's insistent voice but soon, Michael turned his full attention to me. "U-Uh, okay."

I slowly turned to him, and just how every moment like this happens, I melt into his chartreuse green eyes, and I did nothing to stop myself from staring.

"I like the scar above his eye," I said and he chuckles softly, smiling at me the whole time. "I like his 'To The Moon' tattoo."

"I love that he dyes his hair a lot," I continue to ramble, engaging my whole gaze onto him. He looked really attractive, and somehow, I couldn't lay a finger on the thing about him that makes me love him the most.

The look in his eyes meant a lot. As if he was staring at me, and I felt everything I needed to feel. "He's one of the prettiest in the band."

It was Calum's turn after mine, but I didn't have the courage to listen to him. I only stared ahead, keeping my eyes locked onto the red-haired boy standing next to me.

"Okay, we're gonna play another game!" Kent announced and I tore my eyes off of him. "You have the paddles we gave you earlier? You just have to flash us the side which corresponds to your answer. It's either yes or no."

"First question! And it happens to be a trending topic in the internet today!" Smallzy yelled into the microphone, enough for us to hear. "Do you like the new song 'You Suck'?"

Without thinking straight, the three of us have turned the paddles to the 'yes' side, and we all did nothing but smile into the camera.

•••

I was sitting on a chair and a single camera was placed in front of Calum. There was a screen on the side which showed every question we needed to answer, so that and interviewer isn't needed. Basically we were going to talk about each other within the band.

The first one we had to talk about was Michael. Since Calum, Ashton, and I were up for questioning, we all had to sit next to each other until one of us was called to sit in front of the camera. Michael was allowed to sit at the back of the camera so he could watch the entire questioning.

Calum was called first. He sat on the chair in front until the point came when questions were thrown at him. There was this question where he had to explain these quirky things about Michael.

"When we're sharing a bowl of chips, and he eats it," Calum starts to tell us something about Michael. "He'll put his hand over the plate," he pauses for a while and does something.

Calum places his left palm in front of him and his right fingers were hovering on top of his palm. He brushes his right fingers onto each other as if he was sprinkling something. "And he'll sprinkle whatever's left over on his fingers."

Calum places his hands on top of his lap before continuing, "And that's just disgusting."

"When I first met him, he had this really long fringe." Calum strokes his hand from his hair over his forehead. "And I swear that was the most proper fringe I've ever seen in my life."

Another question pops up into the screen and Calum immediately answers it.

"Michael in five words would be... fringetastic. Wait, that's not a word." He trails off and laughs at himself, knowing that he's given up. "I don't even know that many words."

Calum stares at the screen and sees the next question come into view.

"Best thing about Michael, uh, let's see..." he mutters rather loudly and started thinking. "When you're quite down and upset, he's always there to cheer you up. He's just a really good friend overall."

Calum finishes his interview and Ashton was called up next. I didn't really listen to what they were saying since I didn't pretty much have the courage to listen. I just realized that Ashton was done and soon, I was being filmed in front of the camera with Michael watching me mindlessly.

I squirmed uncomfortably on my seat, but at the same time, the words 'how you did meet Michael?' flashed on the screen at the side.

"I met Michael in school, since we were both in the same grade level." I answered as I thought about more from the past. "I went to school early, so I got to meet him in year nine." I continued, but I figured out that I needed to elaborate my answer.

"We actually hated each other for like, a solid year of my life." I looked directly at Michael who sat behind the camera and the light posts. I couldn't picture the look of insecurity on his face as he sat up straight and continued to watch my interview.

"He was Calum's best friend, and I was newly friends with Calum, so I didn't actually know how we got along." I explain as I stared at the camera, glancing at Michael every now and then. "I just felt something that encouraged me to tell Michael 'hey why not we start a band or something?', which actually surprised me when he agreed to make a band."

"Then the day happened when Michael started to frequently come to my house after school, and we would do YouTube covers by ourselves. Calum didn't always come to band rehearsals, which left Michael and I feel kinda awkward around each other." I laughed at the memory as they only listened to me.

"But then a few months later, it no longer felt awkward around him until the day came when Michael became my best pal." I looked down to stare at my feet and looked back to the camera again. "He took the band to a higher level, and I swear we wouldn't be making this far if it wasn't for Michael." I glanced at Michael and saw him smiling at me.

"Can you explain how Michael became such a praise to your band's progress?" the voice of the director snapped me from staring at Michael's inhumanely green eyes.

I quickly nodded and continued to ramble. "We were so caught up of just forming a band that we never thought about getting a drummer." Calum and Ashton started giggling from the side and I glanced at them for a moment. "To be honest, we didn't know how or where we were gonna find a drummer in a large city like Sydney. Michael just kinda came to my house one day with Ashton standing beside him."

"I actually didn't know how he did that." I shook my head and stared at Michael. "After getting Ashton, Michael came to me one night and said that he was going to book a gig for us."

I shook my head incredulously. "I never thought he could actually book one with 200 people watching. It just amazes me all the time that Michael made most of the band's success."

I told them that I was done answering, and soon, another question flashed on the screen.

"Uh, Michael in five words would be..." I trailed off, thinking of what I was going to say next. "Weird... hair... uh, colourful..." I trailed off again, looking straight ahead to where my eyes landed. "And hair again." I finished quickly, knowing I only said four words.

The screen had new words in it, and I started thinking effortlessly before answering.

"Michael as a friend, would be simply caring." I answered directly to the question. "He's a person that would look extremely annoying and obnoxious on the outside, but when you spend time alone with him, and if you actually get to know him, you'll know that he's secretly a kitten on the inside."

"He's the kind of person that would do these things to change the way of how you look at him. Like he'll undoubtedly fool around with you, and soon you'll think that he's just the annoying guy in this band. Like he's the obnoxious one in their group. But if you only look deeply, you'll see that he's the guy with the problems. He's the kind of guy you would want to take care of."

"He's the best friend you could ever ask for. He'll be the perfect pal to make you feel safe when you think you're not. He'll be the thoughtful band mate who would quickly approach you when your voice breaks into the mic on stage. He'll be the brother that would never hate you for doing these stupid things, instead, he'll make you feel loved more than you deserve to feel because he knows that you're special to him."

With that, I ended my interview and stood up from the chair, walking towards the seat of Michael because it was now their turn to talk about me.

Michael and I exchanged looks before he stood up and nodded at me, taking that as my opportunity to watch him talk about me, his best friend.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to say that I wrote this a year ago and I really sucked at that time lmao.

**Author's Note:**

> THAT WAS SHIT BC I WROTE IT LAST YEAR. Anyway, comments and kudos are appreciated. Thanks for reading!
> 
> qotd: Do you guys have twitter?  
> aotd: I have one. Comment yours so I can follow you!


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